English | 中文
Official site: paste.gxlself.com — product overview and screenshots.
macOS app (download): GitHub Releases — grab the latest Paste-*-macos.zip, unzip, and drag Paste into Applications.
A lightweight, privacy-first clipboard manager. This repository ships three deliverables in one Xcode project:
| Platform | What it is |
|---|---|
macOS — Paste |
Menu bar app that records clipboard history, global hotkeys, overlay panel, Paste Stack, Pinboards, optional iCloud sync. |
iOS — Paste-iOS |
iPhone/iPad app to browse the same history, pinboards, filters (text/image/file), custom categories, multi-select, scanner & quick new text. |
iOS — Paste-Keyboard |
Custom keyboard extension: pick a saved clip from the keyboard and insert it in any app (Mail, Notes, etc.) without switching away. |
The iOS app and Paste keyboard share one App Group database so the keyboard can read clips the app maintains. macOS keeps its own local store; when iCloud sync is enabled on both macOS and iOS (same Apple ID), history can align across devices.
iOS / keyboard builds need one-time signing and App Group setup — see SETUP.md. The macOS target runs with no extra configuration.
Ship a macOS zip/pkg for GitHub Releases: install full Xcode, then run ./scripts/build-macos-github-release.sh — see docs/RELEASE_MACOS.md.
iOS companion for others: Apple does not allow install-from-GitHub like macOS; distribution is via TestFlight or the App Store — see docs/RELEASE_IOS.md.
iOS on App Store: Paste G on the App Store — download for iPhone & iPad ($2.99).
iOS TestFlight: Install TestFlight on your iPhone/iPad, then open this public link to join the beta. If the link says it’s full or not accepting testers, email gxlself@gmail.com.
Questions or bugs: Please open an issue on GitHub.
If Paste is helpful to you, please star the repository on GitHub — it helps others find the project. 若觉得有用，也欢迎随手点个 Star。
Main panel: search, type filters (All / Text / Image / File / Link / Favorites), and horizontal card browse.
Preview area and category bar (dark appearance).
App overview and history feed (All / Text / Image / Files filters).
Custom keyboard: bring up the Paste keyboard in any app to search and insert saved clips.
Feature overview: history and categories, context menu (Copy / Preview / Edit / Pin / Share, etc.), keyboard and iCloud sync settings.
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Clipboard monitoring | ~300 ms polling; captures plain text, rich text (RTF), images, and file paths |
| Smart deduplication | SHA-256 content hash; duplicates refresh timestamp only |
| Self-write filter | Content written by Paste is not re-recorded immediately (avoids loops) |
| Recording rules | Skips empty / whitespace-only text; optional Record images off skips image captures |
| Excluded apps | Bundle IDs on the exclusion list are not recorded (e.g. password managers) |
| Retention | Time presets (day → unlimited) plus max item cap when not unlimited; clear all history; database size display |
| Timeline grouping | Today / Yesterday / This Week / Earlier |
| Source app | Icon and name of the app that copied each item |
| Pin | Pin items to the top of the list |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Overlay | Translucent NSPanel; keyboard-first; position bottom / top / left / right |
| Appearance | System, Light, or Dark |
| Card grid | Adaptive card layout; slide-in animation |
| Assisted Paste | With Accessibility, pastes into the front app and closes the panel; off = copy to clipboard and you press ⌘V |
| Menu bar | Left-click toggles panel; right-click opens menu (Preferences, About, Open clipboard, Pause/Resume, Quit) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Live search | Debounced full-text search; type-to-search while panel is focused |
| Type tabs | All, Text, Image, File |
| Regex tab | Built-in regex presets as quick filters |
| Custom types | User-defined categories (tags) on items; filter by category |
| Tab key | Cycles filter tabs forward; ⇧Tab backward |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Pinboards | Multiple slots (default 5, up to 10); items tagged per slot; global shortcuts switch slots |
| Paste Stack | Queue items and paste in order; dedicated global hotkey opens stack mode |
| Plain-text paste | Preferences: default plain text, or hold ⇧ (or configured modifier) on paste |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| New item / pinboard | Create text clip; create new pinboard |
| Edit / rename | Text items: full edit and rename |
| Multi-select | ⇧← / ⇧→ extends selection; ⌘A selects all visible |
| Undo delete | ⌘Z restores last deleted item |
| Delete | ⌘⌫ or Forward Delete |
| Open | ⌘O opens URL or file path |
| Preview | Space for quick preview when search is empty |
| Input source | ⌃Space cycles keyboard input sources while the panel is open |
| Link preview | Optional rich link preview in cards (Preferences) |
| Sound | Optional sound on copy from panel |
| Tab | Contents |
|---|---|
| General | Accessibility status, Assisted Paste, VoiceOver announce, appearance, panel position, launch at login, plain-text default, link preview, sound, menu bar icon, retention & max items, record images, DB size, clear history |
| Shortcuts | Global hotkeys; quick-paste modifier (⌘ / ⌥ / ⌃ / ⇧) + 1–9; plain-text modifier; built-in panel shortcut reference |
| Rules | Excluded apps list |
| Sync | Optional iCloud (CloudKit); sync now |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| History | Same clips as shared App Group store; swipe pages for All / Text / Image / File |
| Pinboards | Multiple pinboard tabs aligned with macOS concept; manage from the app |
| Custom types | Categories/tags; rename or clear by type |
| Actions | Copy to clipboard, share, multi-select batch ops, document scanner & new text sheet |
| Settings | Rules (e.g. ignore sensitive / auto-generated content toggles on iOS), sync-related options |
| Topic | Detail |
|---|---|
| Purpose | Add Paste under Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards; while typing, switch to the Paste keyboard to search and tap a clip to insert it. |
| Full Access | Required so the extension can read the shared App Group database. Enable under the keyboard’s settings after adding it. See SETUP.md. |
| Without Full Access | UI may appear but cannot load history from the shared store. |
| iOS app ↔ keyboard | Always via App Group on-device storage. |
| macOS ↔ iOS | Optional iCloud when turned on in Preferences (macOS) and Settings (iOS) and both signed into the same Apple ID. |
Static pages for this project. main 分支不追踪 docs/；站点源在 docs 分支，部署到 gh-pages。详见 GITHUB_PAGES.md。
GitHub Pages: 在 Settings → Pages 选 Deploy from a branch，分支 gh-pages，根目录 /. 向 docs 分支推送并修改 docs/ 时会自动部署。
中文: 站点导航中 中文 进入 zh/index.html。
| Page | Role |
|---|---|
| index.html | Home, platforms, highlights, sponsor |
| features.html | Feature tour (KEEP / SEARCH / ORGANIZE / sync / privacy) |
| everyone.html | General audience |
| developers.html | Developers |
| designers.html | Designers |
| sales-support.html | Sales & support |
| use-cases.html | Use-case hub |
| help.html | Help & FAQ |
| updates.html | What's new → Releases |
| contact.html | Contact |
- macOS app (
Paste): macOS 13.0 Ventura or later - iOS app (
Paste-iOS) & keyboard extension (Paste-Keyboard): iOS 16.0 or later - Xcode: 15.0+, Swift 5.9+
- Building iOS targets: Apple Developer team + App Group (see SETUP.md)
git clone https://github.com/gxlself/paste.git
cd paste
open Paste.xcodeprojmacOS
- Select the Paste scheme and My Mac.
- Press ⌘R to build and run.
- The app appears in the menu bar; ⌘⇧V (default) opens the panel.
Accessibility is used for global hotkeys and Assisted Paste. Grant it under System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility if prompted.
iOS app + custom keyboard
- Complete SETUP.md (signing, App Group
group.gxlself.paste-tool, embed Paste-Keyboard in Paste-iOS). - Run Paste-iOS on a simulator or device (⌘R).
- On the device: Settings → General → Keyboard → Keyboards → Add New Keyboard → Paste, then enable Allow Full Access for the Paste keyboard so it can read shared history.
paste/
├── Paste.xcodeproj # Xcode project (main entry point)
├── docs/sponsor/ # Tip QR codes & WeChat OA (README)
├── SETUP.md # iOS signing, App Group, keyboard Full Access
├── Paste/ # macOS app target
│ ├── App/ # App entry point and lifecycle
│ ├── Features/ # UI feature modules
│ │ ├── MainPanel/ # Overlay clipboard panel
│ │ ├── Preferences/ # Settings (General / Shortcuts / Rules / Sync)
│ │ ├── About/ # About, Privacy Policy, Terms
│ │ └── MenuBar/ # Menu bar view
│ ├── Services/ # Business logic & system services
│ ├── Persistence/ # CoreData stack + optional CloudKit
│ ├── Models/ # View-layer data models
│ └── Support/ # Constants, AppSettings, utilities
├── Paste-iOS/ # iOS app: browse history, pinboards, settings
├── Paste-Keyboard/ # Custom keyboard: insert clips from App Group store
├── Paste-Shared/ # Shared code for iOS targets
├── PasteTests/ # macOS unit tests
├── PasteUITests/ # macOS UI tests
└── LICENSE
macOS: SwiftUI + NSPanel / window controllers → view models → services (ClipboardMonitor, HotKeyManager, …) → CoreData (+ optional CloudKit).
iOS + keyboard: SwiftUI in Paste-iOS and Paste-Keyboard → shared models/repository in Paste-Shared → CoreData in App Group container (keyboard reads the same store as the iOS app).
All global shortcuts can be changed in Preferences → Shortcuts (with a reset-to-defaults action). Preferences → Shortcuts also sets the quick-paste modifier (⌘ / ⌥ / ⌃ / ⇧) for 1–9 and the plain-text paste modifier.
| Action | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Toggle main panel | ⌘⇧V | Open/close clipboard panel |
| Toggle Paste Stack panel | ⌘⇧C | Open/close Paste Stack mode |
| Next pinboard | ⌘] | Switch to next pinboard slot |
| Previous pinboard | ⌘[ | Switch to previous pinboard slot |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| ↑ / ↓ | Previous / next item |
| ⌘↑ / ⌘↓ | First / last item |
| ← / → | Previous / next item |
| ⇧← / ⇧→ | Extend multi-selection |
| ⌘← / ⌘→ | Previous / next pinboard |
| Tab / ⇧Tab | Next / previous filter tab (All → Text → Image → File → Regex → …) |
| Printable keys | Type into search (focuses search) |
| ⌘F | Focus search |
| Space | Quick preview (when search is empty / not consuming Space) |
| ⌃Space | Next input source (IME) |
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Enter / keypad Enter | Paste selection (plain text if enabled by default, or hold ⇧ / plain-text modifier) |
| Modifier + 1 … 9 | Quick-paste 1st–9th visible item (modifier default ⌘) |
| ⌘C | Copy selection to system clipboard |
| ⌘⌫ or Forward Delete | Delete selection |
| ⌘O | Open URL or file path |
| ⌘N | New text item |
| ⇧⌘N | New pinboard |
| ⌘E | Edit (text items) |
| ⌘R | Rename (text items) |
| ⌘Z | Undo last delete |
| ⌘T | Pause / resume clipboard monitoring |
| ⌘A | Select all visible items |
| Esc | Close preview → clear search & defocus → exit multi-select → exit Paste Stack → exit pinboard filter → close panel |
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Preferences | ⌘, when menu is open |
| Quit | ⌘Q when menu is open |
Contributions are welcome. Please open an issue first for significant changes.
- Fork the repository
- Create a feature branch:
git checkout -b feat/my-feature - Commit your changes following the project's commit style (see
.cursorrulesfor Chinese commit message conventions) - Open a pull request
- Data is stored locally on your device; iCloud sync is opt-in and uses your Apple ID / CloudKit container.
- No analytics, no crash reporting, no third-party SDKs in the described configuration.
- What gets recorded: normal clipboard content except (1) empty or whitespace-only text, (2) copies from excluded apps (by bundle ID), (3) images when Record images is off, (4) content immediately written by Paste itself (anti-loop).
- Excluded apps are configured under Preferences → Rules.
If Paste saves you time, tips are welcome (WeChat Pay / Alipay). Scan to follow the WeChat official account for updates.
Tip a little, fewer bugs—sincere thanks from the maintainer!
| WeChat Pay | Alipay |
|---|---|
 |
 |
WeChat official account
MIT License — see LICENSE for details.